This bill authorizes a public charter school to operate outside the geographic boundaries of the LEA in which the public charter school is authorized to locate in its charter agreement, if: (1) The public charter school needs additional space, facilities, or buildings to serve the students of the public charter school; and (2) The public charter school enters into a written agreement for the lease of buildings or facilities, or portions thereof, that are located in the same county as the LEA in which the public charter school is authorized to locate in its charter agreement; provided, that the buildings or facilities, or portions thereof, leased by the public charter school are used for educational purposes. Present law generally requires that, in order for a county LEA to operate a school located within the geographic boundaries of a municipal LEA, the municipal LEA and the county LEA must enter into a written agreement for such purpose by July 1 prior to the start of the school year immediately following the creation of the municipal LEA. This bill specifies that a public charter school that is authorized by a county LEA may operate within the geographic boundaries of a municipal LEA pursuant to (1) and (2) above and the requirements applicable to written agreements for the operation of a county school inside a municipal LEA do not apply to the public charter school. Under present law, a public charter school that is authorized by the public charter school commission must operate within the geographic boundaries of the local board of education that denied approval of the initial public charter school application. This bill specifies that such limitation does not apply if the requirements of (1) and (2) above are met. This bill clarifies that out-of-district enrollment at charter schools will continue to be governed by a public charter school's charter agreement. Present law requires an LEA in which one or more public charter schools is operated to annually publish a descriptive inventory of its buildings and creates a right of first refusal for a public charter school to acquire vacant or underutilized property from the LEA. This bill specifies that such requirements only apply to an LEA in which one or more public charter schools operate pursuant to a charter agreement that authorizes the public charter school to locate within the geographic boundaries of that LEA.

Statutes affected:
Introduced: 49-2-140, 49-13-105(a), 49-13-105, 49-13-113(c), 49-13-113, 49-13-113(b), 49-13-113(d)(4)(E), 49-13-113(e), 49-13-136(c), 49-13-136